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Wild coco

Eulophia

Also called Plants, Plant

Wild coco
Photo: Orchi, CC BY-SA 3.0
Grows as
Grass, Orchid
Water
Drought tolerant

About

Eulophia, commonly known as corduroy orchids, is a genus of about two hundred species of flowering plants in the orchid family, Orchidaceae. Most Eulophia orchids are terrestrial but some are deciduous while others are evergreen. They either have an underground rhizome or pseudobulbs on the surface and those species with leaves have them on the end of a fleshy stem. The flowers are arranged on a thin flowering spike, the flowers having sepals which are larger than the petals. The genus is widely distributed but most species are found in Africa and Asia, usually growing in shady places with grass or shrubs in forests.

How to grow it

In the frost-free, semi-arid areas of Southern California, many Eulophia species, such as E. macra, E. petersii, E. plantaginea, and E. speciosa, can be grown outdoors year-round in well-drained pots with cactus/succulent potting mix (although E. speciosa prefers being grown in pure white sand), as long as they are given ample light through the winter and a drier winter resting period. Warmer growers, such as E. pulchra and possibly even the extremely rare and difficult E. cucullata (the foxglove orchid), can probably be grown outdoors in the warmer south areas of Florida and Hawaii, also. The generally large, underground, fleshy rhizome indicates a sympodial growth habit, and this makes Eulophias fairly easy to divide and propagate, provided the grower is gentle.

Where it grows

Orchids in the genus Eulophia are distributed in shady rainforests or in open scrub or woodland in the tropics and subtropics of Africa, India, Asia, Queensland, and the Americas, although most are found in Africa. Many can survive the dry season through their large bulbous ‘corms’. Some species, such as Eulophia petersii, have adapted to very arid environments and are among the few orchids to have truly evolved desert living species.

Other Eulophia plants

Wild coco · Eulophia andamanensis · Green corduroy orchid · Sourveld Harlequin · Eulophia dabia · Eulophia dentata · Giant orchid · Sword Harlequin · Eulophia euglossa · Eulophia gracilis · Chinese Crown Orchid · Eulophia guineensis

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Eulophia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.

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